Skip to main content

tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  April 30, 2013 8:00pm-9:01pm PDT

8:00 pm
>> on day six of that deadly collapse, hundreds of workers clash with police. >> some people call this chandelier and ice. listen to this ice just cracking. you can see it splintering there right along the coastline in minnesota. >> "outfront" next, we have new developments in the boston bombings investigation. authorities have found a very important clue, one spefblg clue on the bombs. tonight, you'll hear the voice of tamerlan tsarnaev for the first time. what one of his boxing copes told us today.
8:01 pm
catherine russel spent three hours at her lawyer's office today. what we are learning right now about that meeting. let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone. we have a new clue that could help solve this crime and tell us if anyone else is involved. plus, tamerlan tsarnaev, the dead suspect in his own words, tonight, all angles of the investigation outfront in boston. susan candiotti and brian todd on the investigation. last night, it was female dna on the bomb. tonight, you have information on some very new and specific
8:02 pm
evidence in the case. >> that's right, e rin. we're learning about a new lead that at least one fingerprint has been found on one of those bombs that was used during the boston marathon. at last word, there is no information on who that fingerprint belongs. also, at last check, we don't have any word as to whether there's been a match about that female dna that was also found. >> right, and obviously going to be crucial. susan, there has been talk about whether there's any potential conversations, discussions going on between prosecutors and the defense at this point about the punishment
8:03 pm
who's been charged, that's dzhokhar tsarnaev, to allow him to continue discussions with investigators. he hasn't really said anything substantive, but this could lead to them talking again in exchange for possibly taking the death penalty off the table. now, we are told this is a very common and standard practice. that these are not to be considered to be negotiations and that no deal has been offered, but that in fact is very preliminary talks have been going on for the past few days. >> thank you very much. and for the first time tonight, we are now hearing the voice of tamerlan tsarnaev. the brother who died after a shootout with police three days after the bombings. entertainment tonight has uncovered some footage from a documentary. >> tamerlan tsarnaev.
8:04 pm
>> are you excited? >> yeah. why not? you know. >> brian todd is in boston tonight. tamerlan, he sounds hopeful, cocky, aggressive. you spoke today with one of his former boxing coaches. what did they say? >> they're just kind of contributing to some new questions as to whether the fizzling out of his boxing career may have contributed to him going down some kind of a dark path. i spoke to a guy names bob russow who coached tamerlan in 2009. the team that went to the national championships in salt lake city. tamerlan lost in those championships. that could have led potentially to a shot at olympic team, but the next year, they changed the rules on him and because he was not a u.s. citizen, they didn't
8:05 pm
let him on. here's my conversation with bob russo. >> a legal citizen of the united states to box in the national, in the golden gloves international. so they, national golden gloves decided they would not allow -- >> and that killed tamerlan tsarnaev's dreams of becoming an olympic boxer. there's at least one former boxing coach named john allen who believed it did. he told entertainment tonight he believes that setback did set him along ta past, but other coaches don't believe that's really the case. we know of other problems he had. the family had financial
8:06 pm
problems. he was arrested in 2009 for domestic assault. the family received welfare payments on and off for about ten years. his wife was receiving welfare payments, both federal and state welfare payments for her and her child, so most of last year including that six months that he was in russia, so a lot of setbacks in the end there. >> ten year of welfare payments, so then making a lot of people frustrated in this country. you know, also, you have new information on possible funeral plans for tamerlan and the big question is who's going to claim his body? what have you learned? >> we have learned tonight from the islamic society of boston, this is the mosque where both brothers attended for a period of time. that they have been contacted by the family, by an uncle, about making funeral arrangements for tamerlan. now, what this mosque says is that they have taken that request and passed it along to a service, an islamic service that does funeral arrangements and that will be processed by that service. it is not clear if the actual funeral will be presided over by the mosque where those two brothers attended. if it is, mosque officials tell us it will be prosided over -- because the top imams are not comfortable. so, if it turns out the islamic
8:07 pm
society of boston is going to preside over that funeral, it's going to be a layperson who does it. that's not clear at the moment and it's not clear if the funeral will be held in boston. >> thank you very much. as you all know, there have been so many questions about whether the intelligence community in the united states could have prevented the boston bombings. today, the president weighed in and defenned the agencies involved. >> based on what i've seen so far, the fbi performed its duties, department of homeland security did what it was supposed to be doing. >> joe johns is in washington tonight and the president said they did what they could and
8:08 pm
what they were supposed to be doing, but still, there is real concern. >> that's true. first talking to some people in the intelligence community, there are those who say given the circumstances, the administration had to do a review. the president being very complimentary toward the federal agencies, but some inside the intelligence community, whether somebody missed something and it's important to say even though the fbi has taken some criticism, the director of national intelligence said he believes all the agencies involved took the appropriate steps. so the question, whether there was a breakdown either in the gathering of the information or analysis of the information, so how is it that the u.s. got tipped off by russia to check out one of the suspects in the boston bombing? fbi finds no derogatory information, then the same guy goes on to allegedly blow up the marathon. one expert asks whether a signal
8:09 pm
to noise problem, that simply there's so much information about potential terrorists coming in, it's hard for the interjensen community and fbi to figure out what's important. >> everybody, hundreds of thousands, maybe more than a million people they're watching. authorities say tsarnaev was on two government watch lists before the attack. did you know there are at least six terror watch lists in america? is this smart of a sign of failure? plus, as american authorities hunt down the publisher of inspire magazine, reports say tamerlan tsarnaev used the magazine to build the bombs in boston. and amanda knox speaks out for the first time. what she says happened that night in italy. man: how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money.
8:10 pm
about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your family's future? we'll help you get there. britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark,
8:11 pm
"when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, at od, whatever business you're in, that's the business we're in. with premium service like one of the best on-time delivery records and a low claims ratio, we do whatever it takes to make your business our business. od. helping the world keep promises. i've always kept my eye on her... but with so much health care noise, i didn't always watch out for myself. with unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. but she's still going to give me a heart attack.
8:12 pm
that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.
8:13 pm
we are just hear frg the widow of tamerlan tsarnaev through her attorney and in her statement, something significant. her attorney says catherine russell wants her husband's remains. she wants the remains to be released to the family. the statement goes on to say, i'll quote, in the coming days, katherine will continue to meet with law enforcement. the imams in boston are apparently refusing to hold a service for tsarnaev. we'll have more with erin who was with her today. as we try to find out whether there were any mistakes here, whether everything was done perfectly or not, did you know there are at least six terror watch lists in america? it's a statistic that deserves scrutiny after revelations that tamerlan tsarnaev was on two of them before the attack. and there's a lot more than the six major watch lists we've counted. other government agencies have their own, but why are there so
8:14 pm
many? is this smart or is it big government gone bad? tom foreman is out front. >> a curious trip to russia, loud confrontations at a mosque, visits to radical websites and behavior that made even relatives disapprove. >> what i think was behind it, being losers. >> just some of that was enough to have tamerlan tsarnaev on at least one government watch list well before the boston bombings. rick nelson is an expert on these government databases. so why didn't the watch list prevent in this? >> it would be difficult for the watch list itself to stop the attack. it's just data.
8:15 pm
>> there are many watch lists in government agencies and the names of both the older tsarnaev brother and his mother were on one called tie. a low level list of about 700,000 names. there is no active surveillance of people on tide. their names are kept in case they show up in connection with a more serious threat, then they may be bumped up, where their movements would be scrutinized more closely just in case an attack is in the works, but -- >> with these particular suspects, there's nothing they did that you know, suggested that they were going to do something like this. >> that is the problem. lone wolves like eric rudolph and the unibomber evaded capture
8:16 pm
for years. >> at the end of the day, it's very difficult because with many of these individuals, we don't know when they're going to cross the line from rhetoric to violent action. >> security experts argue watch lists can still be valuable to investigators, tracking terror networks after an attack. but the fact the boston bombings were the work of someone already on a list is now in itself being looked at very hard. for "outfront," tom foreman, washington. >> "outfront" tonight, a former cia analyst who spearheaded the -- operations team. seth jones is the associate director of the international security and defense policy center. great to have you with us. you've been out there looking for people. i just wanted to throw up a graphic. six major lists. you have tide list with more than 700,000 names.
8:17 pm
you have another terrorist screening database with 423,000 names. tsarnaev was said to be on that list. then there's a select d list with 14,000 names. a no fly list with 10,000 names and the kill list, we don't know exactly how many names are on that. does it make sense to have all of these lists? >> so, look, i think most of these lists are to be used as references. they're not generating leads, open investigations. it depends on how they're used. they can be useful just as a resource for some organizations, but again, i'm not exactly sure how all of those databases interact at this point. >> and i guess that's a big point. let's talk about the tide list in particular. the big one. 700,000 names. helpful? >> look, i think it's helpful to
8:18 pm
have a list of people who come under suspicion, whether they're by u.s. agencies or foreign agencies overseas in the but that really doesn't mean ns, anything in the case of open ended cases. that may be an issue with this case. obviously, they're going to have reasons for all of these lists, right? i would bet there's a reason to have more than one list. there may not be a reason to have how ever many lists they have. how do we draw the line between something that's necessary and something that becomes clerical busy work, where you have people on these lists and should have been on surveillance, who end up committing terrorist acts. >> i think at least my, based on my own experience in u.s. special operations, at some point, if there is little corroborating evidence then over time, there should be relatively straightforward ways to get people's names off the list. that does become a problem and once somebody's name gets on several of these lists, it becomes very difficult to get
8:19 pm
off. regardless of whether there's information or not. >> right and that raises another problem. you have a list of 700,000 people on it. not every one of them is going to go commit a terrorist act. but you have a tamerlan tsarnaev name on there, because there's 700,000 people, you're not actually looking at him. >> right. whether or not there's an expiration date for how long the names should be on there, that's a good conversation to have, but at this point, having the database for fbi agency, even cbp, it's incredibly useful. this is actually a great example because if you look at the fact that what we now know, according to report, that the fbi closed their case, but yet he was flagged by the cia later on. so, having, having this in there, it could generate some trigger or lead if we had the infrastructure to do something
8:20 pm
like that, it would be useful. >> now, seth, does it prevent though, on the same level you have someone on the list who did something we could have caught, it's unclear if there were any mistakes made, but if you've got so many lists coming out of the u.s. government that you become a slave to the list. i'm only going to look at the list, then miss somebody that's not on the list. the list can be bad both ways. >> that's a very good point. i think part of the issue that we have with this case is especially if there were some family members that were aware of radicalization, what is our community engagement strategy like, especially with law enforcement and muslim communities, for example. we've seen in several cases with a alexandria five in virginia, there were concerned individuals that went to the fbi through nongovernmental organizations and said we've got a jihadist
8:21 pm
problem here. we've got kids going to pakistan radicalized. that did not happen here. that's more than just a list. that's also our ability to have some systematic engagement. states of america. >> as al-qaeda terror trading in u.s. drone strikes, so the radicals hone their online training. in 2010, publishing the inspire magazine. propelling them to leaders in
8:22 pm
cooking up jihad at home. issue one devoted ten of its pages to bomb making. glossy propaganda written in english to inspire a generation of english speaking radical want to bes. instructions showing step by step details on making a pressure cooker bomb, available to anyone through radical islamists to right wing extremists, who themselves have had a -- for cooker bombs. more issues followed. issue nine early 2012, suggests targeting sporting events. in 2011, suggested using a car. the ideas sounded outlandish. riggeded a car using a cocktail of explosives similar the to inspire magazine instructions and another apparently lone wolf attacker followed yet another inspire recipe. before he was arrested in 2011. it's modern magazine style came courtesy of its creator and editor in chief, an american living yemen, samir khan, a member of al-qaeda's yemen franchise. al-qaeda and the arabian peninsula. he once boasted i am proud to be a traitor to america. les than two years after issue one hit the streets, he was dead. killed in yemen september 30rd, 2011 in a u.s. drone strike. issue 12 was published last year.
8:23 pm
there has been nothing since. >> still to come, tamerlan tsarnaev's widow spent three hours at her lawyer's today. what she's saying to be the about her husband's remains. plus, amanda knox, the american college student convicted of murdering her there has been nothing since. >> still to come, tamerlan tsarnaev's widow spent three hours at her lawyer's today. what she's saying to be the
8:24 pm
about her husband's remains. plus, amanda knox, the american college student welcnew york state, where cutting taxes for families and businesses is our business. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups. the new new york is working creating tens of thousands of new businesses,
8:25 pm
and we're just getting started. to grow or start your business visit thenewny.com email marketing from constant contact reaches people in a place they're checking every day -- their inbox. and it gives you the tools to create custom emails that drive business. it's just one of the ways
8:26 pm
constant contact can help you grow your small business. sign up for your free trial today at constantcontact.com/try. they have no idea what it was like before u-verse high speed internet. yeah, you couldn't just stream movies to a device like that. one time, i had to wait half a day to watch a movie. you watched movies?! i was lucky if i could watch a show.
8:27 pm
show?! man, i was happy to see a sneezing panda clip! trevor, have you eaten today? you sound a little grumpy. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] connect all your wi-fi-enabled devices with u-verse high speed internet. rethink possible.
8:28 pm
we start the second half of our show with stories we care about where we focus on reporting from the front lines and we start today with the president who said he's going to continue to push on his promise to close guantanamo bay today. the president also stopped at the notion of continuing to keep inmates at gitmo and quote unquote perpetuity. >> the idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried, that is contrary to who we are. it is contrary to our interests and it needs to stop. zwl now, the. >> now, the president's talked before to lift restrictions to other places, but that depends on congress and a former attorney tells "outfront" the president will have to quote quell the concerns of lawmakers
8:29 pm
that the detainees won't be transferred to federal prisons in their district. in the meantime, the president has depended on drones to take on militants. according to a new report, hurricane sandy caused 11 billion gallons of sewage to overflow. the non-profit behind the study puts it this way. this is pleasant. 11 billion gallons would be like filling central park with sewage 41 feet high. that's a lot of -- a third of that overflow is untreated raw sewage. the rest was partially treated, if that makes you feel any better. waste water consultant john shaw tells us time will likely kill the pathogens in the sewage, but some could pose a risk now. okay. two months after yahoo!'s ceo banned employees from working from home, she is now doubles maternity leave. she went back to work just two weeks after giving birth.
8:30 pm
we looked a t the way things are for most americans and even among working mothers, only 16% of mothers on that list get anywhere near what yahoo! is offering. that's a pretty generous benefit. it has been 635 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? some good news today. this week, we found out the u.s. treasury is going to pay down debt for the first time in six years. it's only one quarter and thanks to tax receipts because they come in in april. still the first time this has happened in a long time, so we celebrate it. one man being hailed a hero in the aftermath of the boston bombings is speaking out now for the first time on television. the man the tsarnaev's allegedly carjacked. the chinese immigrant known as danny helped lead the police to brothers. he went to the gas station and made the call. with his voice altered, he told john miller how he escaped. >> i was counting, one, two, three, four, i just -- do it. did it. and i can feel tamerlan trying to grab me. >> he's reaching out.
8:31 pm
>> yeah. >> and now, you're running. >> i was running. i was just running as fast as i can and never, never look back. >> danny insisted despite doing that, and running and trying to get help, when tamerlan tsarnaev had a gun and said he was going to kill him, he insisted he wasn't a hero. >> i don't think i'm a hero, you know, because what i was trying to do was just trying to save myself. i did something, probably did something good and i think the police, they are the hero. they exchange the gunfire with those bad guys. i think they are the heroes. >> and now back to our developing story tonight. tamerlan tsarnaev's widow has just released a statement, that she wants her husband's remains to be released to the tsarnaev family. today, she was there for more than three hours and erin continues to cover this angle outside the russell family home in rhode island.
8:32 pm
what more did her attorney say about her husband? >> reporter: well, as we know, earlier today, she was at her attorney's office and she was meeting with federal investigators. she was there for about three hours. now, in this statement her attorneys just released, they say and i'll read this to you,
8:33 pm
in the coming days, katherine will continue to meet with law enforcement and provide as much assistance to the investigation as she can. now, erin, here's another thing i want to tell you about this statement. the attorneys also have said that the massachusetts medical examiner's office is preparing to release the remains of tamerlan tsarnaev and katie russell says she wishes those remains were released to the family. to that end, just about two hours ago, i was again outside her attorney's office in downtown providence and i ran into uncle ruslan, the uncle of tamerlan and dzhokhar. he called his nephews quote, losers. when i tried to speak to him, he said he was not really in the mood to speak. he wished that we would respect his feelings, erin. >> all right, erin, thank you very much. reporting from rhode island and interesting there. there are so many questions. now, it's been well, it's been weeks. another meeting with her attorneys, russell has remained mostly out of sight, but is said to be cooperating. i want to bring in mark garrigos. originally law enforcement officials said they had several major questions about this case and one was how is it possible for the wife which lived in this small apartment, to not have any
8:34 pm
idea that her husband was experimenting with bombs and explosives lying around the apartment. that was a big question they had. they've done nothing in charging her, arresting her. does that exonerate her? >> no, i wouldn't say it exonerates here by any means. in fact, one of the things, techniques you run into with the feds, we often joke that even the mafia spares the women and children. the feds will bring the wives or the spouses in and in this case, i can see where if she's cooperating, why in the world would you arrest first and ask questions later. they may want to get as much information as they can. they may have assured the lawyers she's not a target, but she's under the federal targets, a subject or just a witness. and they're going to try and get as much information as they want
8:35 pm
because as you said, you had indicated, there are a lot of questions and obviously, they want to answers and they want to run to ground any kind of leads and having to do with anybody who may have also been involved. not just what she saw or whether she saw something and didn't do anything, but whether somebody else was involved. >> let's just say, who knows whether involved or not. they think they can get information out of her that's useful in this. would they make a deal with her and say look, we think you were involved, but we're not going to because you can give us other valuable information, could they do that? >> absolutely. it happens all the time in the justice system. somebody's either given immunity, you could be coming in under what's called a queen for a day, where you're told anything you say won't be used against you, so yes, those things could happen. there could be an agreement already inked and signed.
8:36 pm
you just don't know. it's all speculation, what we do best on cable. but ultimately, they could have gotten something from her they thought was valuable enough to trade for immunity. >> but then what happens? took the dna out of her family home yesterday and said they found female dna on one of the bombs, no link between the two, but if they were to find there was and the public finds out about it, this woman was given immunity, that's tough. >> well, yeah, opens yourself up to a lot of criticism, i suppose, but most of this is speculation. just don't know. if they did give immunity now and that was normally what happens is they're not going to, the federal system, they generally will not give immunity until they've got a pretty good idea of what's going to be said. and if she said she's got in involvement and she was lying, they can come down with the full
8:37 pm
force of the u.s. government on her. >> at this point, we have no idea whether that was any involvement whatsoever. >> thank you. for the first time, amanda knox is telling her side of the story. knox and her former boyfriend spent four years in prison and their convictions were thrown out, but in a dramatic ruling last year, italy's high court threw out that decision and ordered another trial. >> in a glossy rollout timed to the release of her new book, amanda knox is breaking her silence on the pages of "people" magazine and a prime time special on abc. >> i was in the courtroom when they were calling me a devil. i mean, it's one thing to be called certain things in the media and it's another thing to be sitting in a courtroom, fighting for your life while people are calling you a devil.
8:38 pm
>> knox, then an american college student in italy, spent nearly four years in prison after she and her italian boyfriend were convicted of murdering knox's roommate. knox was dubbed a femme fatal. this is how she responds to diane swauier. >> devil with an angle face. >> i've heard the jest of them and they're wrong. >> in "people," the 25-year-old speaks candidly about life in prison. >> one of the things, she has a family photo album and she's so lonely, she's caressing the pictures. >> so lonely, she thinks about suicide. >> she talked about would she do it in the shower, there's a little window in the shower and
8:39 pm
it would be all fogged up and no one would see here. she woul bleed to death and it would be a peaceful death. >> then a dramatic turn of evidence involving bad evidence, knox was set free and returned home to seattle. >> thank you to everyone who's believed in me, who has defended me. >> on why she's talking now, she says i'm not a murderer, but not latest twist, italy's highest court has ordered a retrial. >> what was your reaction when you heard the decision? >> it was incredibly painful. i felt like after crawling through a field of barbed wire and finally reaching the end, it just turned out it was the horizon and i had another field of barbed wire that i had ahead of me to crawl through. >> and still to come, almost
8:40 pm
eight months after the terrorist attack on the american consulate in libya, house republicans are saying state department officials are blocking and testifying about missteps. but the president said today about this so-called intimidation and whether it adds up. plus, something historic just happened in europe that hasn't happened in more than 120 years. so why don't more people care? [ driver ] today, my ambulance knew all about a bike accident, just by talking to a helmet. it grabbed the patient's record before we even picked him up. it found out the doctor we needed was at st. anne's. wiggle your toes. and it got his okay on treatment from miles away. it even pulled strings with the stoplights. my ambulance talks with smoke alarms and pilots and stadiums. but, of course, it's a good listener too. [ female announcer ] today cisco is connecting the internet of everything. so everything works like never before. how old is the oldest person you've known?
8:41 pm
we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed: the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ [ beeping ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned... mercedes-benz for the next new owner.
8:42 pm
♪ hurry in to your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for 1.99% financing during our certified pre-owned sales event through april 30th. i'm just red carpets and big spectacles. but that's only the beginning. i have more than one red carpet. i like all sorts of spectacles. from the grandiose to the impromptu... to the completely unexpected. and the most epic thrill ride this city has ever faced.
8:43 pm
transformers the ride 3d. los angeles. endlessly entertaining. start exploring at discoverlosangeles.com president obama's benghazi burden. there are new and allegations that the obama administration is
8:44 pm
engaged in a cover up around what happened last fall in libya. it has been nearly eight months since four americans were killed in the benghazi attack. there have been no significant arrests. none. one person for questioninging. house republicans are investigating and say the state department is effectively blocking its own employees who know important information from speaking out and testifying. dana bash is "outfront" tonight. >> the president appeared to be caught flat footed. >> i'm not familiar with this notion that anybody has been blocked from testifying. >> he may not be familiar, but there's a high stakes tug of war going on between the state department and gop house oversight chairman, darrell issa. according to one attorney involved, at least four employees, three at the state department and one at the cia, apparently want to talk to
8:45 pm
congress about the administration's handling of the benghazi situation, but much of that information is classified. a veteran attorney says she can't get answers on how to advise her client. >> when my client cannot give me all the information because the state department will not give a process for my being cleared. >> the state department suggests it is up to the employee to ask. >> we're not aware of any employees who have requested security clearances for attorneys in connection with benghazi. >> but she arguing the client is afraid to ask. >> i have to protect my client and i'm not going to let my client go to people in the state department and expose himself or herself without my being able to be with that person and if i'm
8:46 pm
not cleared, i can't be with the person. >> so it's the chicken or an egg. >> and the state department's playing games with that kind of language. >> has he or she felt threatened? >> if you're going to talk away somebody's job or living, that's a threat. a kind of a threat. >> and your client has been told their job or living will be taken away if they come forward? >> in a more subtle way. they just put somebody in an office and say we just don't have an assignment for you. >> the state department denying anyone is is being threatened. john kerry reiterated a promise to help congress get answers. >> we have to -- >> darrell issa plans to hold a public hearing next weekend. that won't happen unless she can fully advise her client including about information that's classified. erin? >> all right, dana, thank you. now, radio host stephanie miller and our contributor. great to have both of you with us. according to at least one of the attorneys here, four cia
8:47 pm
employees, at least four, are being intimidated and blocked from cooperating with a congressional investigation into what happened in benghazi. its's not a small allegation. >> it's part of a larger pattern. you have very aggressive prosecutions in the national security space, including, for example, an nsa who leaked to a sun reporter that you had bloated budgets in the nsa. so when we're talking about aggressive treatment towards whistle blowers, you're not just seeing it on ben, you're seeing it elsewhere, as well. we now know that. but at this point, you don't have people in jail, you don't have anyone being held accountable and this does seem
8:48 pm
absurd. the group that the cia requested selling the attack has paid security in ben. it is fair to have deep frustration that it seems no one may ever be held accountable. >> well, you know, erin, yes, there are some questions and the investigation is not deplete. complete. but is there anything that doesn't give lindsey graham the vapors at this point. it doesn't matter if it's ben, the boston bombing libya. it's always the president's false. he's always done something wrong. do you know how many of these happened on george bush's watch? the fact is there was confusion that night. and there was an investigation that was on going. and i just don't think this is -- everything is water gate with them. >> the problem is this line of analysis. when you look at lindsey graham and john mccain, these are what they've been calling for an investigative team to happen.
8:49 pm
these are folks that have been very happy to a president who made the right call in many cases. let's throw some resources out there and figure it out. this is not the last time this is going to happen. given that we haven't made any arrests, given that we haven't made any progress that americans expect, it seems reasonable. >> somebody at the president's press conference today cited lindsey graham again. >> lindsey graham faces stiff challenges in a primary in his own state for actually working with the president on many issues. he is taking a stance on this issue because it matters. >> it is a problem far from the state department, the administration or anyone else.
8:50 pm
actually, the american administration or whatever. i just want to play what the president said right after the attack. there's an important two words in here. here's what he said. >> make no mistake, we will work with the libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people. >> the two words being the libyan government, stephanie. we don't even know what it is. maub about the libyan government. >> it reminds me at the beginning, everybody says this ridiculous video caused a lot of unrest across the entire middle east. you know, the fact that they ascribe every, like, horrible mote ef to the obama administration, no matter what it is, the fact is americans are
8:51 pm
dead. what difference does it make at this point. what happened when? who said what word. >> i think we definitely know it wasn't the video. this wasn't a terrorist attack. a, there's not a lot of dispute about that. the reason it matters is because our time, not just there, but elsewhere, and they're going to be vulnerable in the future. that's why they'll learn to this experience. still to come, something happened today that hasn't happened in 123 years. why don't more people care ant it? the essay is next. [ chirp ] all good? [ chirp ] getty up. seriously, this is really happening! [ cellphone rings ] hello? it's a giant helicopter ma'am. [ male announcer ] get it done [ chirp ] with the ultra-rugged kyocera torque, only from sprint direct connect. buy one get four free for your business. only from sprint direct connect.
8:52 pm
i've always kept my eye on her... but with so much health care noise, i didn't always watch out for myself. with unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. but she's still going to give me a heart attack. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. [ beeping ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned... mercedes-benz for the next new owner. ♪ hurry in to your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for 1.99% financing during our certified pre-owned sales event through april 30th.
8:53 pm
pre-owned sales event the math of retirement is different today.ek. money has to last longer.
8:54 pm
i don't want to pour over pie charts all day. i want to travel, and i want the income to do it. ishares incomes etfs. low cost and diversified. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.
8:55 pm
a big day in the netherlands. william alexander was crowned king after his mother abdicated. it's the first time in 120 years. that could explain the celebration in the streets and even dressing up as the king and new king and queen. there were also a number of others. outside the country, it wasn't front page news. in fact, according to the washington post, at the dutch
8:56 pm
embassy in washington, just 700 dutch americans are expected at tonight's watch party on tape delay. tape delay? a whole day and night later? even the dutch in america don't care enough to watch this live? oh, this is a far cry from millions of americans tuning in to see prince william and mary kate middleton. could it be that americans like the british royal family? because, as ridiculous as the monarchy is, and, all right, it is ridiculous, there is something fun about it, too. although we don't care about royalty anymore, there's something about those relics of the past that still captivates. "piers morgan" is next. welcnew york state, where cutting taxes for families and businesses is our business. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs,
8:57 pm
cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups. the new new york is working creating tens of thousands of new businesses, and we're just getting started. to grow or start your business visit thenewny.com oh, boy. [ groans ] ♪ ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ [ engine revs ] cheryl burke is cha-cha-ing in depend silhouette briefs for charity, to prove that with soft fabric and waistband, the best protection looks, fits, and feels just like underwear.
8:58 pm
get a free sample and try for yourself. stay top of mind with customers? from deals that bring them in with an offer... to social media promotions that turn fans into customers... to events that engage and create buzz... to e-mails that keep loyal customers coming back, our easy-to-use tools will keep you in front of your customers. see what's right for you at constantcontact.com/try.
8:59 pm
9:00 pm
good evening. this is "piers morgan live." tonight, the death penalty and the bombing suspect. does the obama administration want to strike a deal that spares his life? i'll talk about that with the former director of national intelligence in just a moment. i will also ask him about president obama defending the fbi's handling of the boston bombing investigation, insisting there was no intelligence breakdown. listen to what the president said. >> the russian intelligence services had alerted u.s. intelligence about the older brother as well as the mother, indicating that they might be sympathizers to extremists. the fbi investigated that older brother. it's not as if the fbi did